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Litchfield County resident Dennis Lee Waiter, age 32, of Torrington, was arrested on Thursday, Oct. 27 for the Tuesday, June 15, 2021 incident in Bridgeport, said US Attorney for the District of Connecticut Vanessa Avery.
As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, on June 15, 2021, members of the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force and Bridgeport Police Department investigating gang-related violence and the potential for a retaliation shooting attempted to stop a car Waiters was driving in Bridgeport.
The law enforcement vehicles had activated their lights and sirens, and officers exiting the vehicles wore vests bearing the letters “FBI” and “POLICE.”
Instead of stopping, Waiters drove into the officers and their vehicles, crashing into three officers’ vehicles and into a civilian motorist, according to federal authorities.
Federal authorities said one officer "fired into Waiters’ car as it headed toward the officer, causing the vehicle to veer into another cruiser and, ultimately, to crash into a pole."
When Waiters’ car stopped, a passenger in the vehicle attempted to flee the scene, leaving behind a semiautomatic pistol but was apprehended, documents show.
Waiters was charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
He is being detained in Bridgeport, pending a hearing on Monday, Oct. 31.
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